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Aussies go for Spanish vice US from Navy News dot Com

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Navy to get new advanced warships
Email Print Normal font Large font June 20, 2007 - 6:09AM

Australia's navy is to get new, advanced, Spanish-designed air warfare destroyers and large landing ships at a cost of as much as $11 billion.

The three new destroyers, based on the Navantia F100 now in service with the Spanish navy, may eventually be equipped with standard SM-3 missiles able to defend against ballistic missile attack.

Two new landing ships - versions of Navantia's 27,000 tonne strategic projection ship - will enable the Australian Defence Force to deploy 1,200 soldiers, supported by helicopter and tanks - anywhere in the region.

The government's decision is a significant win for Spain's shipbuilding industry, which will construct the hulls of the two landing ships and parts of the air warfare destroyers.

Most of the destroyers will be constructed in module form at shipyards around Australia, then assembled at the ASC (formerly the Australian Submarine Corporation) plant at Osborne in South Australia.

The landing ships - termed LHDs (landing, helicopter, dock ships) - will be fitted out with superstructure and other systems in Australia, with most of the work to be performed at the Melbourne shipyard of defence company Tenix.

However, the new ships will be significantly more expensive than originally estimated.

Defence originally cited $4.5 billion to $6 billion for the destroyers, but they will now cost up to $8 billion.

The landing ships were originally estimated to cost $2 billion, but will now cost $3 billion.

Prime Minister John Howard said defence equipment was costly.

"We are satisfied that the cost on which we have based our decision is accurate," he said.

"More importantly we are satisfied we are getting good value for money. But defence equipment is very, very expensive and thank heaven we have a budget position that enables us to afford to buy it."

Defence Minister Brendan Nelson said the purchase was a vital project for Australia's defence capability and economic security.

"These amphibious ships, escorted by the three air warfare destroyers in our region, will ensure that we are able to undertake security stabilisation, maritime border protection, peacekeeping and humanitarian and disaster relief priorities," he said.

Dr Nelson said the government undertook a rigorous process before signing off on the contracts and was well aware of what it was getting into.

"We go into these projects today with our eyes wide open," he said.

Labor defence spokesman Joel Fitzgibbon said the opposition supported the plan to buy the new vessels but was concerned that costs were already on the way up.

"We are justifiably concerned that the cost of both ship projects has already risen considerably over the original estimate, from a total of $8 billion for both projects to a massive $11 billion," he said in a statement.

"The cost blow-out represents an increase of almost 38 per cent and is consistent with the government's form in defence procurement projects in recent years."

Victorian Premier Steve Bracks says the contract for Melbourne-based defence contractor Tenix to fit out two large Spanish landing ships is a great jobs boost for the state.

"I'm thrilled actually, this is 500 or 600 new jobs, these are high-tech design jobs, high-tech engineering jobs," Mr Bracks told reporters.

"The hull for the two amphibious ships will be brought into Australia from Spain but all the intellectual design of those ships, fit-out of those ships, will be done at Tenix," he said.

Mr Bracks said Victoria already had a significant role in the ship-building industry.

"We have about 40 per cent of the ship-building industry in Victoria. Tenix holds a lot of that at the Williamstown dockyards area and of course this is a great fillip not only for that area but for Victoria," he said.

Tenix is Australia's largest locally-owned defence and technology contractor.

Its work on the 27,000 tonne Navantia landing ships has been costed at $500 million.

Australian defence ship builder Tenix has resolved to deliver Australia's newest warships on time and on budget.

Prime Minister John Howard said the superstructure and fitout in Melbourne would generate about 600 jobs.

"Tenix and Navantia have focused on a bid providing the greatest safety, greatest capability and lowest risk, and we are determined to deliver these ships on schedule and on budget," Tenix said.

"As contract negotiations get under way, we look forward to working with industry throughout Australia to maximise Australian involvement in this project.

Tenix said that through the ANZAC Ship Project it had developed a deep understanding of the capabilities and skills of Australian industry, which it will put to work on this project.

The ANZAC Ship Project is a collaborative venture between the Australian and New Zealand governments for the development and construction of 10 new ANZAC Class guided missile frigates - eight for the RAN and two for the Royal New Zealand Navy.

South Australian Treasurer Kevin Foley has also welcomed the news.

The three Navantia F100 air warfare destroyers will be assembled in Adelaide by an alliance of Navantia, ASC (formerly the Australian Submarine Corporation), the Defence Materiel Organisation and Raytheon.

"The long-term future for South Australia is that Adelaide will become the logical home for naval shipbuilding for the future of this nation," Mr Foley told reporters.

"We will have thousands of other jobs here supporting shipbuilding, arguably this is one of the most exciting days in the state's industrial history."

Premier Mike Rann also announced his government would invest a further $31 million in building a new air warfare destroyer system centre at Osborne, in Adelaide's north-west.

Mr Rann said the centre would accommodate defence and industry companies working together to bring the successful ship design to life.

He also expressed hope that a fourth Spanish-designed warship would be built in Adelaide, on top of the three that have been announced.

"We believe that the Spanish design offers enormous opportunities for a fourth ship rather than just three ships," Mr Rann told reporters.

"We will be certainly very strongly supporting the federal government making the decision for a fourth ship to be built which of course will bring even more benefits to South Australia."

 
The thread title is a bit misleading considering that the article does not discuss a competition between the Spanish ship builder Navantia and any US based defense contractors.  But it would not be surprising that they tried to get a piece of this project, though the major US defence contractors have had some bad luck with naval construction projects lately (i.e. Deepwater, LCS).  However, for the amphibious vessels, the competition was between the winning design from Navantia and the French Mistral.  The Spanish "Strategic Projection Ship" is an interesting concept and I wonder if the Australians are planning to build and use it to the same concept.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buque_de_Proyecci%C3%B3n_Estrat%C3%A9gica
Buque de Proyección Estratégica (Strategic projection vessel, similar to an LHD) is a planned multipurpose warship for the Spanish Navy (Armada Española). The concept was approved in September 2003 and Navantia (formerly part of the Izar shipyards in Ferrol) began construction of the 231-metre 27,000-ton V/STOL Aircraft Carrier and amphibious assault vessel in 2005. The launching is scheduled for 2007, and she will be delivered to the Navy in 2008. It will be named Juan Carlos I, in honour to the current king of Spain.
The construction is in a historical frame characterized by the increasing budgets and the gradual assumption of international responsibilities on the part of Spain. The new vessel is to play an important role in the Fleet. A platform that not only supports the mobility of the Marines (probably it will replace the "cornudas", L-41 Hernán Cortés and L-42 Pizarro (type USS LST-1196 Harlan County) of the Newport class), but that will possibly act as a platform for carrier-based aviation, and the strategic transport of ground forces as required.
The capacity of the ship will be of around 900 Naval personnel, with equipments and support elements for 1,200 soldiers. Multi-functional garage and hangar space on two levels of 6,000 m², with capacity for 6,000 tonnes load each. A stern dock being able to lodge up to four LCM-1e boats or one LCAC.
If used as an aircraft carrier the vessel will have a flight deck of 201.9 metres with 'ski-jump', and six points for Harrier, JSF or medium helicopters, or four points for heavy helicopters of the CH-47 Chinook type. She can carry up to 30 Harriers in the aircraft carrier mode, using the light vehicles bay as storage zone.
For the first time in the Spanish Navy, the ship will use diesel-electrical propulsion, simultaneously connecting both diesels and the new technology gas turbine to a pair of azimuthal pods .
STRATEGIC PROJECTION SHIP

Length overall 230.82 m
Length between perpendiculars 205.70 m
Moulded beam 32.0 m
Beam waterline 29.50 m
Depth to flight deck 27.50 m
Depth to security deck 17.00 m
Full load draft 7.07 m
Full load displacement 27,082 tn
Speed in full load condition 21.0 Kn
Garage 2,000 m2
Crew 243 members + 1200 embarked forces
Hangar 1.000 m2

For more info on the Spanish F-100 class.  www.navantia.es/ficheros/ocd/pdf/F-100_Frigate.pdf


 
A post at The Torch:

Aussies buying Big Honking Ships
http://toyoufromfailinghands.blogspot.com/2007/06/aussies-buying-big-honking-ships.html

Mark
Ottawa

 
The Three Amphibs
June 27, 2007
Article Link

When Spain recently landed the contract to build the two Canberra-class LHDs for Australia, it brought to the attention of many the fact that the United States was not the only country building large amphibious ships. The Spanish design,  the Juan Carlos I class, beat out the French Mistral-class. These two classes are about the same size (about 25,000 tons) as the American  San Antonio-class landing platform dock, and similar in function to the much larger (40,000 ton) American Wasp-class LHD. That said, they have a number of differences, each reflecting the needs and existing capabilities of the country that has purchased them.

In the case of the Canberra-class LHDs, the Spanish design was a little larger (27,000 tons), and also it was much more versatile, and it included a ski-jump aircraft deck on the bow. The Spanish version of this vessel will be able to carry up to 30 Harrier vertical take off jets. This means that Spain would have a second carrier to go with the smaller Principe de Asturias. Australia has not had a carrier since HMAS Melbourne was decommissioned in 1982. Now, they will have two "Harrier carriers", which could operate the new U.S. F-35B (which will be replacing a lot of Harriers).

The French Mistral-class vessel displaces 24,000 tons, carries 16 NH90 helicopters, and lacks any real capability to carry or operate V/STOL aircraft like the Harrier or F-35B. France, of course, has the carrier Charles De Gaulle, which operates up to 40 aircraft. In essence, if the French are going to need to kick the door in, they have a carrier with fixed-wing aircraft to provide air cover.

So, how do they compare with the American amphibious vessels? Well, these two classes come in about the size of a San Antonio-class LPD. That said, they fulfill a very different mission. The San Antonio-class vessels have more extensive electronics, and typically carry larger landing craft (like the LCAC air cushion landing craft). Its aviation facilities are limited to about four to six helicopters on the flight deck and the hangar. It might displace 25,000 tons, placing it in the same range as the Mistral and the Juan Carlos/Canberra classes, but it concentrates on getting troops ashore, not so much the aerial operations the other two classes support. All three classes carry about a battalion of marines.

A better ship for purposes of this comparison is the Wasp-class LHD. The Wasp-class LHD usually carries 6-8 Harriers, 12 CH-46s, 4-9 CH-53Es, 4 UH-1s, and 4 AH-1s. However, it was also designed to be capable of operating as a sea control ship with 20 Harriers and 6 SH-60 helicopters. The Wasp displaces about 40,000 tons, making it about 50% larger than the Spanish/Australian LHDs. The Wasp is designed to hold the air element of a Marine Expeditionary unit. Like the French Mistral-class LHDs, they do not have ski ramps. If they need significant air support, the United States will usually send a carrier, with four squadrons of F/A-18 Hornets and F/A-18E/F Super Hornets to provide backup.
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